Monday, May 28, 2012

What better way to celebrate Memorial Day weekend than to camp out in the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial? Josh's Cub Scout Pack does this as an annual event, and this year was our first year to join in. What a blast!

We arrived on Friday evening, set up camp, and enjoyed some quiet time around the campfire while the boys played in the woods. It was Sam's first time camping, and he really took to it rather quickly. Probably helped that he was surrounded by older boys the whole weekend... always someone there to look up to.

On Saturday morning, Josh's pack conducted the flag raising ceremony. Then, the boys cleaned the grave stones, set flags and a single rose at each, and prepared for the Memorial Day ceremony at the cemetery. The ceremony was a wonderful tribute to the 5076 fallen soldiers who rest eternally young at the cemetery; and to the relationship that has been formed between the people of Luxembourg and America, as a result of our presence and assistance there during WWII. Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, Commander of U.S. Army Europe, spoke and presented a wreath; as did a host of other people representing the U.S. and Luxembourg. The Air Force, out of Spangdahlem AFB, performed a fly over in "Missing Man" formation. We witnessed a 21 gun salute.

In the afternoon, the Cub Scouts held the "Bridging" ceremony, when the boys move up in rank. Josh moved with his den from the Bears to the Webelos. After the ceremony, they lowered the flags at the cemetery and we returned to the campsite to relax, enjoy skits, and have fun.

Sunday, the boys raised the flags again, while I packed up our campsite. When all was ready, we did our final Cub Scout "Leave No Trace" walk through and headed out.